v0.4.0-beta - unified launcher + markdown copy/export

This is a breaking release. It lands two changes that shipped together as PR #5 (launcher refactor) and PR #6 (markdown copy/export).

New: markdown copy/export

• Per-message and whole-conversation "Copy" controls (Markdown / plain text) in the VS Code chat, with an embedded HTML-to-Markdown converter. On by default; set CC_PATCH_MD_COPY=0 to leave the webview untouched.
• A standalone CLI exporter, fixes/markdown-copy-export/cc-export.py, renders a session .jsonl to Markdown (--format, --include-thinking, --include-tools, --open, -o).
• The copy controls are additive and keyed on stable markup, so they simply do not appear if a future extension build moves things; they are reconciled on every launch and reverted when toggled off.

Breaking: one launcher instead of three

The three launchers are now a single env-toggled launcher per platform (claudemax), with every fix independently switchable. The old single-fix launchers and their binaries (claude-think.exe, claude-context.exe) are gone.

Old	New
claudemax (both fixes)	claudemax (same name; now carries every fix)
claude-think (thinking only)	claudemax with CC_PATCH_CONTEXT_ICON=0 and CC_PATCH_MD_COPY=0
claude-context (context icon only)	claudemax with CC_THINKING_DISPLAY=omitted and CC_PATCH_MD_COPY=0

If you used claude-think.exe or claude-context.exe, switch to claudemax.exe with the env vars above, then repoint claudeCode.claudeProcessWrapper (VS Code) at the new binary and reload. The pristine-backup suffix is now .bak-cc-workarounds.

Toggles (all on by default)

• CC_THINKING_DISPLAY=omitted - hide thinking summaries
• CC_PATCH_CONTEXT_ICON=0 - leave the context-usage icon as-is
• CC_PATCH_MD_COPY=0 - no copy controls (the webview bundle is left untouched)
• CC_WORKAROUNDS=0 - master switch, disables every fix; CC_RECONCILE=0 - do not read or write the webview bundle this launch

Webview edits are idempotent, ownership-marked, written atomically, snapshotted once to .bak-cc-workarounds, reconciled every launch, and best-effort (a read-only file or renamed bundle simply no-ops and never blocks the launch).

Assets: claudemax.exe (the unified launcher) and SHA256SUMS.txt. The Linux cross-build uses the default node icon. Older release assets remain available for anyone pinned to a previous version.

Verify a download with sha256sum -c SHA256SUMS.txt (or certutil -hashfile claudemax.exe SHA256 on Windows).

v0.3.1-beta - audit hardening (rebuilt binaries)

Same two fixes as v0.3.0-beta (empty thinking summaries on Opus 4.7/4.8, missing context-usage icon), with the launchers hardened per an external security/robustness audit (PR #4). No behavior change for normal use.

• Windows wrappers no longer shell out to claude.cmd/.bat: they resolve the npm shim to node + cli.js and spawn with shell:false, so argument metacharacters can no longer be interpreted locally.
• --flag=value argument forms handled; CC_THINKING_DISPLAY validated; context-icon patch skips ambiguous bundles.

Assets: claudemax.exe (both fixes), claude-think.exe (thinking only), claude-context.exe (icon only), SHA256SUMS.txt.

Verify a download with sha256sum -c SHA256SUMS.txt (or certutil -hashfile <exe> SHA256 on Windows).

v0.3.0-beta - context-usage icon fix + workarounds index

Unofficial community workaround. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Anthropic. Use at your own discretion. Beta software; behavior may change with future Claude Code releases.

This release adds a second fix and renames the repository to claude-code-workarounds (the old claude-code-think URL redirects, so existing links keep working).

New: missing context-usage icon (1M context window)

Recent extension builds (around 2.1.165+) hide the chat-input context pie until you have used more than 50% of the context window. With the 1M window that is about 500,000 tokens, so it is effectively never shown. The fix flips that threshold so the icon shows at any usage level, re-applied on each launch so it survives extension updates. (CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_1M_CONTEXT=1 only shrinks the window and is not a real fix.)

Windows downloads (attached)

• claudemax.exe - both fixes (thinking summaries + context icon)
• claude-think.exe - thinking-summaries fix only
• claude-context.exe - context-icon fix only

Linux and macOS users run the matching bash scripts from the repo; no download needed.

Setup

Point the official "Claude Code" extension's claudeCode.claudeProcessWrapper setting (or the third-party "Claude Code Chat" extension's claudeCodeChat.executable.path) at the .exe and reload the window. Toggles: CC_THINKING_DISPLAY=omitted, CC_PATCH_CONTEXT_ICON=0. The context-icon fix may need two window reloads the first time. See the README for details.

Confirmed on Opus 4.7 / 4.8 with VS Code extension 2.1.169 (native-binary CLI) on Windows 11 and Ubuntu 24.04.

v0.2.0-beta - fix VS Code --max-thinking-tokens + process-wrapper

Fixes empty thinking summaries on the official Claude Code VS Code extension (2.1.16x).

The extension changed the VS Code launch path: it now signals a real run with
--max-thinking-tokens (not --thinking adaptive) and launches a configured
claudeCode.claudeProcessWrapper with the real CLI as a leading argument. The
previous launcher recognized neither, so the Thinking section rendered empty again.

This build of claudemax.exe:

• Injects --thinking-display summarized when it sees --max-thinking-tokens
  (nonzero), --thinking adaptive/enabled, or -p/--print.
• Consumes the leading real-binary path the official extension passes
  (process-wrapper convention).

Setup: set claudeCode.claudeProcessWrapper (official "Claude Code" extension) or
claudeCodeChat.executable.path (third-party "Claude Code Chat") to the full path
of claudemax.exe, then reload the VS Code window. In a multi-root .code-workspace,
put claudeCode.claudeProcessWrapper in the workspace settings block or User
settings, not a folder's .vscode/settings.json.

Confirmed on extension 2.1.169 (native-binary CLI) on Windows 11 and Ubuntu.

v0.1.0-beta (unofficial / beta)

Unofficial community workaround. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Anthropic. Use at your own discretion. This repository may or may not be maintained and may be made obsolete by future Claude Code updates.

Restores the extended-thinking summaries that render empty in Claude Code on Opus 4.7 / 4.8 (VS Code extension and headless -p / SDK paths).

Windows download: claudemax.exe (attached below) is the Option 1 launcher, compiled. See the README for setup. Linux and macOS users run the claudemax script from the repo; no download needed.

Confirmed on: Windows 11 and Ubuntu 24.04; Opus 4.7 / 4.8; native-installer CLI 2.1.166; VS Code extension 2.1.165 / 2.1.167.

Beta software. Behavior may change with future Claude Code releases.